There is a great hymn, Make Me A Blessing. First verse and chorus: Out in the highways and byways of life, many are weary and sad; carry the sunshine where darkness is rife, making the sorrowing glad.…Make me a blessing to someone today.

Blessing opportunities abound. Make this your morning prayer. “Lord, help me to be a blessing to someone today.” Then keep your eyes open. Look for opportunities, and seize them in the moment.

I have a great delivery fellow. I asked his name so I can greet him by his name. I called the company that he works for. I wanted to write a letter of commendation. The gal I talked to asked me to tell her and she would convey the message. I ended our call, “May God bless you in a special way today.” She said, “Your kindness for your driver just did.” My actions weren’t scripted ~ just an answer to prayer.

Spouses know their partners better than anyone else. Our character is displayed behind closed doors and in the open. Conflict is a perfect tool that often triggers hidden fleshly reactions. Words can be spoken in haste. Buried hurts, offenses, resentments, emotional pain from the past surface unexpectedly. These pressures are part of conforming us to Christ’s image. 

Use blessing as a tool. Say that your spouse, child, or friend is depressed or disappointed. You can pray on their behalf, “Lord, I ask you to bless them in a way that will take the heaviness from their heart.” You can write them a card asking the Lord to bless them. Something like, “May the Lord grant you hope in place of your broken expectation. May He fulfill the longings of your heart.”

We cannot bring change to another’s heart. However, we can ask the Lord to do it. We see their need that keeps them bound. Then we ask Him to fulfill that need by blessing them.

Romans 12:9-21 is like a character forming template. Though Paul wrote it to the church in Rome, we can readily apply it to our lives. Verse 9 says, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.” 

As I continued to memorize this chapter, I paused at verse 14. It says, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” In Deuteronomy 28, Moses detailed God’s blessings to the children of Israel if they obeyed Him. Then all the curses were detailed if they disobeyed Him.

Let’s think of the word bless. Strong’s definition is: speak well of, praise, extol, invoke a benediction, give thanks. In relationships with conflict, we can ask the Lord to bless that person with what they lack.

Interpersonal relationships create an atmosphere where hidden feelings surface unexpectedly. There are often clashes of will. There are misunderstandings. Those are pressures in life that test our character.

I had renewed my driver’s license but it never came in the mail. I called three weeks later to see why. When I was there the first time they didn’t do two things that would allow the system to continue. The kind man I was talking to set up my appointment to go back.

I went back. Three times the gal tried to register my thumbprint. Finally she had me go to another window. Twice in this process she thanked me for my patience. The whole time I was reminding myself that I am representing Jesus. 

When everything was finally done I said, “May God bless your day in a special way.” She smiled and thanked me. I walked out and said to the Lord, “The pressures of life really test our character.”

I like to think about the potter on a wheel. Once the prepared clay is set on the wheel, it takes a lot of consistent pressure to center it before it can be formed.

Affirmations affect our mind, will, and emotions. They defeat the lies that might surface, or the fiery darts that seek to penetrate. Faith affirmations are living truth that defeat and conquer what tries to take us down and away from trusting the Lord in the moment.

Consider faith to faith like a trapeze artist. They have to let go of the first bar they are holding onto. They cannot reach out and grasp the oncoming bar until they let go. Paul wrote something essential for us to grasp. 

Philippians 3:13 says, “…one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press…” The morning of November 9, 2018 the Holy Spirit spoke this. “The forgetting is in the releasing.” That literally empowered me to press into a new venture ~ now faith backed by a verse previously hidden in my heart.

Refer to yesterday’s devotional as an example of faith affirmations from Scripture. Psalm 97:9. Isaiah 54:17. Psalm 118:14. Psalm 18:2. I use those as faith affirmations, because those verses are hidden in my heart. The Holy Spirit brings them to my mind when I need them to anchor me.

David used faith affirmations. Psalm 18:2 says, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Here is another. Psalm 27:1 says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

Mark 11:22 says, “…Have faith in God.” Faith affirmations are not useless words. Just chanting them will not make a difference, because that is futile activity. Faith comes by hearing God’s word which is alive, powerful, and pierces deep down into our soul. 

Being thankful is God’s will. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Walking in the center of God’s will is like being in the eye of a hurricane. No chaos. No despair. No anxiety. Clear direction. Led by the Holy Spirit. 

Let’s go back to living from faith to faith. Now faith is present faith. Faith in the moment is based on Who God is. As we affirm His word to our hearts, we enter into it and are encapsulated in its truth. 

We face an impossible circumstance. Our heart rate goes up. Our mind starts to careen. Then His word that is hidden in our hearts rises and it centers us on  the Lord. 

Thankfulness comes to wrap around our lives to secure us. “Thank You Lord that You are in control. No weapon formed against me will prosper. You are my Strength and my Song. You are my Deliverer.”

As I started to memorize Romans 1:21 my mind went back to other verses about futility. It says, “Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

Here is Strong’s definition of useless. Fruitless, empty, futile, hollow, unreal, unproductive, lacking substance, ineffectual, void of results, and worthless. I want my life to count.

God has prescribed His way for us throughout Scripture. Samuel 12:21 says, “Do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing.”

That brings me to John 15:5. It says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” Doing any one thing in our own strength is futile. It all starts with thoughts.

Each moment of our lives we are to live by faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Verse 6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

Our faith is increased as we hear God’s word. Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Faith affirmations build our faith and make it strong and resilient. 

Here is a faith affirmation from Romans 6:11. When tempted we can affirm “I am dead to sin but alive to God.” When fearful we can affirm, “You will never leave me nor forsake me…” Hebrews 13:5. Here is one of my stabilizers. 2 Timothy 2:13. “You are faithful. You cannot deny Yourself.”

Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

As Romans 1:17 said, we go from faith to faith. Our trials try or test our faith. Before we accepted Jesus as our Savior, we were ruled by sin. We didn’t know anything different. We didn’t have to think about it ~ sin was our nature.

Ephesians 2:4 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy…” According to Psalm 103:10 mercy is not getting what we deserve. It says, “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.” Why? Jesus took our place. He bore our sins.

Faith is present tense ~ moment by moment faith.